This
article describes a cognitive science approach to law, uses it to
critically evaluate conventional "pyramid" legal analysis of local
government authority, and suggests stories as alternative models for
defining such authority. The article suggests that stories better reveal
what is at stake in regard to local government authority and thus helps
us to arrive at better solutions. The article illustrates the
storytelling analytical approach in three situations: a local
government's condemnation of private property for resale to a private
developer, the delegation of land use control authority to neighborhood
groups, and local government attempts to zone out nontraditional
families.